It is conventional to withdraw blood from the body, pass it in dialyzing contact with a purging liquid contained within an artificial kidney machine, herein referred to as an "in vitro" device, so as to withdraw from the blood waste or contaminants normally removed by a person's kidneys, where the normal kidney function s missing or insufficient. Such practice while common is beset with many disadvantages, not the least of which is the need to chemically condition the blood against unwanted clotting response to the dialyzing treatment. Other disadvantages include periodic chemical imbalance in the user's body as the usual kidney dialysis treatment is given but several times a week resulting in a far from natural cycling between unduly waste-laden and ultra-clean conditions responsive to the schedule of treatments.
In my earlier patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,388,803 and 3,884,808, I disclosed externally wearable artificial kidney devices through which blood was circulated as the user moved through his daily routine, the dialzing fluid being regenerated by a system of filters and make-up solids continuously fed to the dialysis fluid. As superior as these devices were to stationary "dialysis center" type dialysis devices, the problems inherent in techniques involving blood circulation outside the body remained.